Away Away

Away goes 2007 and so do we...for a short while. We are headed for Cheyenne this morning, the blowing snow won't help much with the drive, but I feel like we have done the drive enough we could do it blindfolded. I will only be gone for two weeks, and then I have to be in Kearney and ready to start work on January 14, 2008.

Check out the temperature the other morning on our way into town. I don't think it was quite -196 F but I suppose for some folks, especially those from the warmer areas, this time of year might feel like we've sunken below Arctic temperatures.

We made our geocaching goal for the year. We reached 1600 by the new year - 1601 as of this morning, and I suspect we will find a few more on our way to Cheyenne today as well.

We are going to spend a New Years in Cheyenne with Laura's family and then stay the week and head for Missoula on Friday. I suspect we won't be driving the entire distance in one shot, maybe staying overnight in Cody, Wyoming and getting back to Missoula on Saturday. The long drives are just not as easy to do right now.

As for me, I will have about five days in Missoula to pack up and head back for Kearney. I am probably going to drive it all in one shot and just get it over with. But then again, I am not positive on my plans or when I will be leaving Missoula - that has yet to be determined.

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Post Christmas, Pre New Year

We've made it to that time of year when we are in between celebrations. Christmas is over, but the new year is lingering closer and closer. As far as our trip from Montana, it was rather uneventful... Well, I shouldn't say that because we did have a lot of fun things happen, but as far as having trouble with the truck or trailer we just went right down the road all the way to Cheyenne and then to Kearney.

We spent a few days in Cheyenne together before I had to come to Kearney. I left for Kearney at 4:30 to get to here in time to head off for a job interview. Laura stayed behind and spent some time with her family - she was delivered to Kearney by her brother the next afternoon.

My interview went well and my job will be starting in January. I will be taking Laura back to Montana and spending a few days with her, pack up my things, and move back to Nebraska in the next few weeks.

Our geocaching on this trip has been rather unique. We have actually found a few caches, and nearly all of them have been under snow - we are really going along! In fact, as of last night we were at 1592, but I suspect we will be up to 1600 by next week.

I took the picture of the moon - the nice camera has been returned to Laura's mom and we are back to our cameras. I don't need a lot of photos of the moon, so I think I can manage for awhile until I upgrade to a better camera - but that might be awhile anyway.

I'm randomly jumping around here, but I've got a lot of random thoughts going on this morning. Blogging on my laptop isn't as easy as blogging from by desktop computer... Anyway, I wanted to share a picture from a geocache we stopped at in Wyoming. Shirley Basin in Wyoming is where a lot of nuclear reactor tailings were dumped - this site closed in 2000 and it's easily accessible, but it's marked quite well to inform people what's going on.

Otherwise, we are enjoying some downtime here in Nebraska. We are headed to Cheyenne on New Years Eve and then a few days later we will be headed back to Montana so I can get back to Nebraska. Until again

-=Nolan=-

Preparing For The Road

Things really warmed up around here the past few days and all of our snow melted - all 14 inches at our house! With the exception of a few snow piles here and there it doesn't even look like winter around here anymore. The grass in the yard is still holding a small amount of green to it and yesterday it was about 45°. The last few days I have been getting things in place and ready to go for our Christmas trip back to Wyoming and Nebraska. The apartment is slowly looking more and more messy, but we are packing things in boxes and getting everything ready for the move too. A large amount of the stuff will be loaded onto the trailer and stored in Nebraska until spring when hopefully we will be making one final trip to move.

Now that it's colder outside we are cooped up indoors a little more than we like to be, so we make the most of our weekends by getting outdoors one way or another. Last weekend we took a drive to do some geocaching and just enjoy the Bitterroot Valley. I wanted to make a stop at Lee Metcalf Refuge to check out the ducks and geese. There's always a lot to see around there - especially the deer who are as common as the weeds!

I was taking a picture of a buck... When suddenly a pheasant flew across the frame....Did you see the doe playing peek-a-boo with the pheasant?I've been out hunting a few times, but lately I have just enjoyed watching the ducks fly around that pulling the trigger. Tomorrow I will be on the Clark's Fork River floating along and trying my luck with ducks and geese, it should be a lot of fun.

We leave next Sunday for Cheyenne. We are going to make a two day drive to Cheyenne and stop in Cody, Wyoming. We think the drive will be a little better if it's split into two days, and the truck should get a little better fuel mileage as well. Not to mention it would be nice to just take our time and get there without the burden of having a full days drive. This way we should have about six hours behind the windshield and a little more time to do some geocaching or just slow down to enjoy the scenery on our way. That will be nice as well! Until again

-=Nolan=-